WWALS Watershed Coalition advocates for conservation and stewardship of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little, and Suwannee River watersheds in south Georgia and north Florida through education, awareness, environmental monitoring, and citizen activities.

Commissioner Fried presented the resolution to Lisa Rinaman, the St.
Johns Riverkeeper and Chair of
Waterkeepers Florida.
Read the
resolution declaring April as Water Conservation Month here.

“On behalf of Waterkeepers Florida, we thank Commissioner
Fried, Governor DeSantis and the Florida Cabinet for designating
April as Water Conservation Month. Water conservation is critical to
the work we do to protect and restore Florida’s waters. We applaud
this resolution and the Cabinet’s commitment to conserving Florida’s
waters and the opportunity to partner with our leaders to protect
our waters for future generations,” said Lisa Rinaman, St.
Johns Riverkeeper.

A dozen of its thirteen members had already signed for their individual organizations.
According to its bylaws, all members of WATERKEEPERS Florida are now signed on with the organization.
Besides, the thirteenth member, Continue reading →

Seven of the fourteen Florida Waterkeepers visited the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) to express our serious concern and a
sense of urgency to protect and restore Florida’s rivers, coast,
bays, estuaries, lakes, springs, and aquifer, especially about resiliency
after hurricanes, harmful algal blooms, BMAPs, and phosphate mines.
I congratulated Noah Valenstein on his meteoric rise: only two and a half
years ago he was just starting as head of the
Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD),
and now he’s the head of FDEP.

Update 2018-12-30: The new organization WATERKEEPERS Florida, as one of its first acts, on December 19, 2018, signed the Resolution Against Phosphate Mines in Florida, thus committing all thirteen of its member organizations.

WHEREAS, Waterkeeper Alliance Members are obligated and dedicated to protect the water
resources, citizens’ interests, and related benefits in their
jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS, phosphate mines have been shown to threaten and cause actual harm to these
resources, interest, and related benefits; and

WHEREAS, there are several phosphate mine projects in various stages of permitting in local,
state, and federal agencies including county and city governments,
Water Management Districts (WMDs),
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP),
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); and

WHEREAS, there seems to be no public list of current phosphate mines and related facitlities,
which include at least

Hahira, Georgia, November 21, 2017 —
Factually incorrect, failing to account for LNG export or solar power, and irresponsible for not finding or creating a method for attributing environmental effects to greenhouse gases, as the DC Circuit Court had instructed
the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to do:
that’s what nine Riverkeepers called FERC’s Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) yesterday; see their letter to FERC.
The nine include all the Riverkeepers in the path of Sabal Trail and all parts of the Southeast Market Pipelines Project (SMPP) plus others in all three states invaded by those pipelines, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, plus Oklahoma, where the SMPP instigator,
Florida Power & Light (FPL), owns a fracking field,
The nine, who support fishable, swimmable, drinkable water,
pointed out that all of FPL’s original excuses for Sabal Trail have been
proven incorrect, and asked FERC to shut it down.